A recent study titled Clinical Evaluation of a Fully Electronic Microfluidic White Blood Cell Analyzer, published in PLOS ONE, evaluates the performance of CytoTracker, a portable, fully electronic, microfluidic-based white blood cell (WBC) analyzer. The study, led by Jianye Sui and colleagues, focuses on the potential of CytoTracker to enable rapid, point-of-care WBC analysis. This device uses only 50 μl of blood—approximately one drop—to measure total WBC and granulocyte counts within minutes.
The study involved 210 adult patients and validated CytoTracker against a standard benchtop analyzer, the Horiba Point of Care Hematology Analyzer. The results demonstrated high accuracy, with strong linear dynamic ranges of 2.5 k/μl–35 k/μl for total WBC counts and 0.6 k/μl–26 k/μl for granulocyte counts, showing correlation coefficients of 0.97 and 0.98, respectively. CytoTracker also demonstrated the ability to accurately identify abnormal blood counts with over 90% sensitivity and specificity.
The promising findings suggest that CytoTracker has significant potential as a reliable, point-of-care WBC analyzer, capable of providing fast and accurate results for better diagnosis and treatment, especially in time-sensitive situations. The device is currently under development at RizLab Health and is not yet commercially available.
Recognition: Sui J,Lin Z, Azizpour S, Chen F, Gaur S, Keene K, Soleimani F, Davis R W, Bhowmick T, Rafique Z, Javanmard M. Clinical evaluation of a fully electronic microfluidic white blood cell analyzer. January 18, 2024. PLoS ONE 19(1): e0296344. PMID 3823679